New Haven Pride Center hosts 28th annual Pride block party
100 local organizations showcased art, offered health resources and promoted advocacy opportunities at the annual New Haven Pride block party on Orange Street.
Sabrina Thaler, Contributing Photographer
When rain started pelting down on the New Haven Pride block party Saturday afternoon, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga’s “Rain on Me” blared out across Orange Street in retort.
Despite the weather, the 28th annual event welcomed hundreds of guests to celebrate the Elm City’s LGBTQ+ community. Local vendors set up tables along a segment of Orange Street on either side of its intersection with Crown Street. Along the rainbow-painted road, attendees enjoyed food, music and free giveaways at the block party.
“A lot of people feel like they don’t belong,” Bleach, a drag queen and this year’s New Haven Pride host, said. “This space is allowing people to be comfortable and be themselves, and ultimately, that’s the goal.”
Bleach, who served as an emcee and greeter for the event, has attended as a guest for 14 years. She believes that events like Pride are important in fighting misconceptions about the LGBTQ+ community by creating a family-friendly, uplifting atmosphere.
The New Haven Pride Center, or NHPC, has hosted the annual event since 1996. The center supports New Haven’s LGBTQ+ community year-round through legal assistance, a food pantry, advocacy training and more than 10 affinity groups, among other resources.
“Events like this show that LGBTQ people can exist in New Haven,” Juancarlos Soto, executive director of NHPC, said. “They have all of these folks around that support LGBTQ people, that believe in LGBTQ people. We are an important part of the fabric of every day in our community.”
According to Laura Boccadoro, the communications director at NHPC and producer of New Haven Pride, event planning began this March.
However, Boccadoro explained that the staff had to shift gears on Thursday after learning that a concurrent bike race would cut off their access to Crown Street, forcing them to redo the block party’s layout.
“We pretty much planned Pride in 36 hours,” Boccadoro said. “We wouldn’t be able to do it without the volunteers, our incredible staff.”
Soto explained that this year’s Pride marks a “rebirth” for the center. This past year, the nonprofit overcame a financial crisis that almost led to a complete closure. According to Soto, with the help of $30,000 from the Board of Alders’ 2024-25 budget, the organization was able to open a new brick-and-mortar building on Orange Street and inaugurate a new leadership team.
This year, NHPC leaders recruited 100 businesses and organizations to participate in the block party. Booths advertised small businesses, advocacy groups and local arts opportunities, comprising the second-highest number of vendors in the event’s history.
Several tables focused on providing free health and educational resources. A Place to Nourish Your Health, or APNH — formerly AIDS Project New Haven — offered safe sex kits and free on-site HIV testing for block party attendees.
“We’ve had a host of people come over to ask about PrEP, PEP, STI, STD testing,” Tiny Thompson, a counselor with APNH, said. “I think a lot of people stay away from it because they feel like they don’t have enough money, or they just don’t know that we have someone in the community that offers HIV testing. It’s important to get that information out there.”
The block party also brought attention to local LGBTQ-owned businesses and community spaces. Booths presented crafts, prints, jewelry and food.
Possible Futures, an independent bookstore, offered a display of books that discuss queer identity and themes, spanning varied genres and intended audiences. Lauren Anderson, the bookstore’s owner, described literature as an essential tool in amplifying queer perspectives. She has represented Possible Futures at New Haven Pride since 2019.
“It’s always a really beautiful event, beautiful people, beautiful spirit,” Anderson said. “It’s just like a very loving community. If you don’t have paper towels and it starts to rain on your books, people come from all directions to help you make things work.”
The event brought together a crowd of local and regional residents, longtime pride attendees and college students exploring the city.
Five members of De Colores, Yale’s affinity group for queer and Latine students housed within La Casa Cultural, attended the block party together. They described excitement about supporting the New Haven Pride Center and gratitude to live in a city that embraces LGBTQ+ identity.
“I’m just happy I’m able to be myself,” Isabella Pedroza ’27, treasurer of De Colores, said. “At the end of the day, I am a college student, but having support here makes me very emotional. [It’s] something that I probably couldn’t have done two years ago, and I’m doing it now, and it makes me very proud.”
The New Haven Pride Center is located on 50 Orange St.